A citizen-led, non-partisan group of volunteers will be set up at Port Alberni’s Fall Fair Sept. 10 to Sept 13 to help people understand how the voting process will work in the upcoming federal election and to check that individuals are registered before the big day Oct. 19.
Only 52 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots in the last election in what has become the Courtenay-Alberni riding, said Norine Messer, one of about 10 volunteers that will be at the “Rock the Vote” booth this weekend. That means almost half of eligible voters didn’t participate, and that means people’s voices aren’t being heard.
“It really makes a big difference whether you vote or not,” Messer said.
The Courtenay—Alberni riding was created by the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution. Once the 2011 election votes are redistributed for the new boundaries, it shows how close the race could be in the 2015 election.
Conservatives 25,797 votes or 44.89 per cent
New Democratic 23,400 votes or 40.72 per cent
Green 3,935 votes or 6.85 per cent
Liberals 3,860 votes or 6.72 per cent
Others 480 votes or 0.84 per cent
Results could be vastly different if the volunteers are successful and improve on the numbers of people coming out to the polls. The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council is also making a concerted effort to increase the participation of Nuu-chah-nulth voters. All three ridings in Nuu-chah-nulth territory are considered “Aboriginal Swing Ridings”, which means that if the Aboriginal vote comes out in great numbers, it would be a deciding factor on who will be the Member of Parliament representing the ridings.
The grassroots effort at the Fall Fair hopes to take some of the guess work out of voting, especially with the changes that have come with the Fair Elections Act, which may present some challenges, especially for first time voters, youth and anyone who has recently moved.
The group will be set up at booth #31 with computers and will check, right there and then, if people are registered to vote, and help them to register if they are not. Or tell them how to register if they can’t complete the process online.
They’ll provide addresses to all the Elections Canada Offices in the different communities, where people can vote until 6 p.m. Oct. 13, and will have dates for the advanced polls leading up to the main event Oct. 19.
Volunteers can check the identification you have to see if it is of the kind that will be accepted at the polling stations, because having the required two pieces of identification may present a problem, especially for First Nations people. The ability, for example, to have your chief councillor vouch for you at the polls has been limited. It used to be that the chief councillor could vouch for any member of the nation at the polling station, but they now can only vouch for one person, just like any other voter in the riding with the proper identification.
No longer will the voter information card you receive in the mail be acceptable identification, nor will a status card be accepted. There is, however, a whole list of other pieces of identification that will be accepted, including a form titled ‘Letter of confirmation of residence’ that voters can get their bands to fill out that will act as one piece of the two required IDs. These forms will be available at the “Rock the Vote” booth, as will other items from the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s Election Toolkit.
See that story here: http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2015-09-02/ntc-election-toolkit-help-get-out-nuu-chah-nulth-vote
While the volunteers will help people understand the voting process, and promote the importance of voting, they will not be talking about election issues, or telling people who to vote for.
This is a non-partisan group, which means they are not taking any one candidate’s side. So who funds them? Messer said the group’s participants have just pitched in any money they could to carry out their activities. They just want to rally the voters in this area and improve upon that 52 per cent voter turnout.
The group is looking for volunteers, and would welcome any support they can get to help make that happen. Call Norine Messer at 250-735-4111 if you can lend a hand.
And before you hit the midway, stop by and see if you are ready to Rock the Vote.
